


The Speed of Light

by possiblewitch



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gay, Gay Male Character, Love at First Sight, M/M, Mentioned Bokuto Koutarou, Mentioned Hoshiumi Kourai, Mentioned Oikawa Tooru, Mentioned Ushijima Wakatoshi, Pro Volleyball Player Bokuto Koutarou, Pro Volleyball Player Hinata Shouyou, Pro Volleyball Player Hoshiumi Kourai, Pro Volleyball Player Kageyama Tobio, Pro Volleyball Player Nicolas Romero, Pro Volleyball Player Oikawa Tooru, Pro Volleyball Player Ushijima Wakatoshi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:07:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24351070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/possiblewitch/pseuds/possiblewitch
Summary: Nicolas Romero has a son.It's the same son who he's bragged about, and who has bragged about him. There's no way he could give him up, and many of the women who have come up to him don't seem interested in children anyway. That's okay too, because he's not looking for a relationship right now anyway.Then his son's favourites change. Then he moves to Japan to join the Schweiden Adlers. Then he meets Ninja Shouyou in person, with his incredible speed and reflexes, and that bright smile of his that he's always wearing.Then he realises that he might be looking for a relationship now- if only with Hinata Shouyou.
Relationships: Nicolas Romero/Hinata Shouyou
Comments: 29
Kudos: 199





	The Speed of Light

The speed of light clocks in at just 299,792,458 metres per second. That's nearly 300 million metres every second. 18 billion every minute. Much, much more every hour. The numbers are so big you can't even comprehend it, let alone imagine it. Theoretically, it's possible for something to travel that fast, but will it ever happen? Nicolas Romero thinks not. No matter how smart the scientists are, there's nothing in this physical world that could ever match that speed.

His son is easily excited by all things volleyball. It's hard not to be when your parent is a world ace. That's a pretty impressive thing to brag about- he definitely would have, if he had been in the same situation as a child. There's just one problem that has suddenly cropped up. It's only a simple question, but it's a big problem nonetheless.

_Who's your favourite volleyball player?_

In the past, it's always been him. _Dad! It's you! You already know this!_ But that was _before_. Now it's different. Now his attention has been moved from indoor volleyball to the beaches of Brazil. From sitting inside a stadium to watching them at home, to a place where he isn't. In the past year, he's changed the focus of his attention to beach volleyball tournaments, recorded specifically for television.

_Who's your favourite volleyball player?_

_Ninja Shouyou!_

He's gotten over it (kind of). He's not a twelve year old (sort of). He can handle his son changing his favourite things and people (he definitely can't). He's also watched a couple of these matches with Ninja Shouyou and his son out of love (and possibly jealousy), and Shouyou is amazing. He has not played beach volleyball ever, and after playing indoor volleyball for so long, he can't imagine himself suddenly moving to a brand new environment with brand new rules.

It's easy to see why the Ninja is his son's new favourite player, but it doesn't help to soften the blow.

When he joined the Schweiden Adlers in early 2018, he wasn't looking for a rivalry or to settle a score. It was just supposed to be a new and fun experience- and it was! The Adlers had been the reigning champions for the past three years. It only made sense for him to join the team as well. His son was excited to come with him, even if the move would only be for a short time. In reality, he wasn't sure how long he would be in Japan for, but the first few games with his new team made him push that problem to the side.

And then came his next match: **The Schweiden Adlers vs. MSBY Black Jackals**.

Nothing can keep up with the speed of light. He had been sure of this, and he still is. No matter how fast the Adlers spike, receive, or set the ball, they'll never come close to 300 million metres per second. The Jackals can't compete with that kind of speed either. It's just another impossible feat, far out of their reach. But somehow, the Jackals have managed to acquire the speed of light anyway, and put him on their starting lineup. Their ace sits out of the game, his spot taken by the newest and shortest player on their team.

It takes a few rallies for him to realise who the new player is. He's small, his jumping height is much higher than he could have expected, and he's fast. He can set. He can pull off moves that Romero's never even thought of before. His bright orange hair should have given him away immediately, but he had been too captivated by the man to even think about things like that.

He mentions the name to his players. They don't seem to know what he's talking about until they reach the changing rooms after the match. After their loss. The game he had been so sure they would win had been a loss for him, and he's not sure how it all unfolded. He can't remember anything about the match except for Shouyou. 

"I am not a fan of his abilities," Wakatoshi says finally, pulling off his shirt. "I have lost to him _again_."

"Twice in a row!" Korai adds, unhelpfully. Wakatoshi glares at him. "For real, though. I totally forgot about that nightmare of a move. I hate that they can pull it off. And on top of that! He's Atsumu's spiker! That means he can get free onigiri from Osamu, right?"

Curiosity makes him speak up. "I thought you guys didn't know him."

Someone has to translate, but the trio frown at him. "Of course we know him," Wakatoshi says. "He is Hinata Shouyou, from the concrete."

"That makes no sense," Korai mumbles, too low for the player to hear, but then speaks just a little louder so he can answer too. "He is my fated rival who I am destined to beat."

"It _does_ make sense," Wakatoshi argues, apparently having much better hearing than you would expect from a guy like him. "Shiratorizawa is fertile soil. You can grow many beautiful crops and players from it. Seijoh is infertile soil. It's difficult to grow crops from it at all. Karasuno is much worse. Oikawa should have gone to Shiratorizawa."

Tobio suddenly has a coughing fit, and stares at his teammate. "Oikawa would have never served you. Never."

"If his pride hadn't gotten in the way, maybe-"

"No." The setter puts on a new, clean shirt. "Oikawa will only serve who he wants to serve. That's why he stayed with Iwaizumi, and played with Hinata for a week." He turns to look at Romero. "I was Hinata's setter in high school."

Hinata- no, _Shouyou's_ setter. Way back before any of this happened- before the Adlers, before he moved, before the guy even stepped foot on the beach. It's a world he can't imagine, Tobio working together with him. He doesn't know who Oikawa is, doesn't know about the week they spent together. This is all new, foreign territory. For some reason that he can't name, Romero wants to know more. He wants to know it all.

Maybe he should start with an autograph.

━━━━━━━━━▼━━━━━━━━━

He can't find him in the crowd. He caught up with number 12- Koutarou Bokuto- who directs him further in, towards the bleachers. _He should be with his old teammates. Almost all of them came to watch_. 

The comment reminds him of how little he knows about the man. He barely knows the name of the school he went to. Never saw any of his early games. He makes a note to watch them later tonight, and then he wonders why he's so interested. He's never particularly been one for mysteries, so what's different with this one? What's so intriguing about Shouyou?

A thought sneaks its way into his head. _I might be gayer than I thought_.

Nah, that's not it.

His eyes finally land on a man with a wild head of orange hair. He's jumping up and down excitedly, clearly still full of energy even after the match. That's insane- even he's a little tired. Two guys and a girl are talking to him- although the guy with glasses has an annoyed smile on his face. A weird mix of emotions, but it doesn't seem to bother Shouyou much. Maybe he's always been like that. Maybe they've never changed since high school.

The girl's eyes meet his, and watches his slow approach through the spectators. "Hey, Hinata," he sees her saying, and she points in his direction. "There's someone here to see you."

Shouyou turns around, sees him, and waves. His regular smile, the one that he's often seen on the court today, seems to be much bigger. He opens his mouth to call his name, but then decides against it and jumps into the people instead.

 _That's so gay_ , the guy with glasses says.

_Go easy on him, Tsukki. He's a world ace! Hinata might want an autograph!_

_Do you really believe that?_

_Not at all._

Someone grabs his hand and starts pulling him through the halls. It takes him a while to realise that it's Shouyou, too focused on the warm hand in his. He weaves through the crowds easily, looking for something that doesn't seem to be there, no matter how far they go. That's fine, he tells himself. He likes this feeling anyway, and hates knowing that there will be a point where they will have to let go. The pesky thought returns. He shoves it to the back of his mind.

"Hiya," Shouyou says suddenly, letting go of his hand. There's a weird fixture on the wall, something that looks like a copper sun with a face on it. He rips his eyes away from it to focus on the man's face. "Sorry for grabbing you so suddenly, um-"

"It's okay," Romero says. It is okay. He wants to be grabbed again- just maybe not with that specific wording. "I don't mind."

It feels weird, being here like this. He's a world ace, and the other man standing across from him is a revered volleyball player for beach in Brazil, but standing in these empty halls makes him feel like a teenager again. Just two normal guys. Two normal nobodies who love volleyball too much for their own good. Something twists in his stomach. It feels like butterflies.

 _I might be gayer than I thought_.

He smiles warmly, both to Shouyou and to himself. Actually, that does sound about right.

His son will want an autograph, but there'll be plenty of time for that later. Just for now, he wants to stay like this for as long as possible. They'll play more games together, either on the opposite or the same side of the net. For the first time in a while, he removes volleyball from his mind altogether. Hopefully it won't be seen for a while; all he wants on his brain is Hinata Shouyou.

"Your super fast attack was really cool today," he says, and then mentally slaps himself. So much for ignoring volleyball. Can he really not hold a conversation without mentioning it? Is he seriously that useless?

The man laughs. "Well, it's a move I haven't really used since high school, so thank you! Hopefully Atsumu and I can work on it some more and polish it a little." He pauses and cocks his head, clearly thinking about something. "But I dragged you all the way out here, and you want to talk about volleyball in _English?_ I can speak Portuguese too, you know."

The guy is _tan_. It's probably from all those days playing beach volleyball in the hot sun, and it fits his orange hair somehow. He really does feel like he's staring at the sun personified. Bright, and charming, and _gorgeous_. Romero wonders what his native language would sound like when Shouyou uses it. He decides to find out.

”Sorry,” he says, the words rolling off his tongue much smoother than they do in English. “I want to have a normal conversation, but I don’t really know anything about you.”

“Well,” he replies, running a hand through his hair. Every little thing about him is _mesmerising_. “Let's start with something simple. What's your favourite thing to eat?”

His heart does a weird little flip in his chest. Shouyou's voice is _nice_. He loves his language, but somehow hearing him say every word perfectly makes it even better. Like putting the icing on a cake. It takes Romero a while to finally come up with an answer, struggling to balance his admiration issues and actually speaking.

"Recently? Rice balls are really good. I didn't think I'd like them at first, but now I can't seem to stop."

"Yeah? I learnt how to make Feijoada in Brazil. I really like it, but I don't think I'm that great at the actual making part."

Feijoada? Hey, _he_ knows how to make Feijoada! 

His brain suddenly, finally, starts working again, away from this frozen state where he just stares at Shouyou and takes everything about him in. The problem is that it's not working in the way that it should. Similar to how he was so concentrated on the ball in a game less than an hour ago, now his brain will only repeat one thing: _Shouyou Hinata_. Maybe chasing this guy through the crowd wasn't as great an idea as it had seemed. 

So the question is out before he can stop it.

"I know how to make Feijoada." He carries around a pen and some paper for various reasons. This has never been one of them. "I can make it for you tonight, if you'd like." 

Is Shouyou sparkling, or is that just his eyes putting on some rose-coloured glasses? Romero feels warm as he writes out his address and number on the paper, and hands it to him, who takes it with a glimmer in his eyes. They're big and brown, and just add to his overall beauty. He hopes that everything he's feeling right now isn't written so clearly on his face.

Oh, God. His handwriting is incredibly messy. Can he even read it?

"Tonight at six, then?"

"Tonight at six."

Someone calls his name, and the man runs off, saying his goodbyes. It's amazing that he still has the energy to run around, even now. Even after playing his hardest. He really is an _incredible_ guy.

Light hasn't bothered him much. He takes early morning runs before the sun rises and before practise. It's always amazing, watching the sun rise as he reaches the edge of the suburbs, pink and orange light filling the sky. It comes with the sun, it comes with the fires he makes in winter, trying to keep the house warm. He can flip a switch and light will immediately fill the room. And apparently, it comes in the form of a man with orange hair.

He's fast. He can make split second decisions and faster attacks. It's like he made a deal with the devil and traded in height for speed. It seems like he'll never stop, just so long as it involves the things he loves. Like volleyball.

A warm smile lights up his face again as he watches Shouyou run off towards a figure with blond hair. Maybe it's Atsumu- he can't tell. Besides, the only important thing in this gym is _him_ , a man who takes the light wherever he goes. The Jackals got really lucky with him, capturing the speed of light and putting him in a place where he can thrive, like a flower in spring.

He's 30 years old, but it sure doesn't feel like that. Now he's 13 again, and he's pretty sure he's just seen the person who he's supposed to be with for the rest of his life, which does sound like a child's dream when he replays the thought in his head. It's like a first love sort of thing all over again.

Sure, he didn't get the autograph that his son will be hoping for.

But he just invited Ninja Shouyou to dinner, and he'll be damned if he doesn't make the most of it.

**Author's Note:**

> "So," Tsukishima says, a bored look on his face. "What happened?"
> 
> "Nothing much," Hinata answers him, pulling out a suspicious piece of paper with horrifically messy writing on it. Tsukishima is pretty sure that handwriting is going to give him nightmares. "I'm just going to his place tonight. For dinner, y'know?"
> 
> Yamaguchi starts coughing, a big smile on his face. "And that's totally normal. Nothing gay about that at all."
> 
> "Is there? Should I be suspicious?"
> 
> Yachi punches their friend playfully. "No. Go and enjoy your dinner with Romero, Hinata. I'm sure it'll be great."


End file.
